Leonardo Hotels celebrates the achievements of graduates from the company’s own Academy
Speaker Samuel Koch’s remarks on mental strength are a source of inspiration
Berlin, 25. July 2024. Leonardo Hotels is delighted to announce the successful completion of the annual career development programmes staged at the Leonardo Academy, the company’s own initial and continuing training venue. The achievements of the participants were celebrated at a grand Graduation Event held at the Hotel Köpenick by Leonardo Hotels on 22 July 2024. The Leonardo Academy takes a targeted and individual approach towards fostering the professional skills and knowledge of its young talent. It also supports onboarding and networking for new management staff at the hotel chain.
Concept and project development
86 Leonardo Hotels employees from Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy and the Czech Republic successfully completed the 18-month intensive continuing training programmes this year. The Academy concept encompasses training courses, transfer tasks, workshops and projects for various target groups ranging from career entrants to experienced hotel managers. It is also traditional for work to take place on company-related topics. Each year, participants present their results to senior executive management at the Graduation Event. This time, one project group had drawn up an inclusive recruitment concept which, over the course of the 18-month continuing training programme, has led to an increase in the number of disabled employees from 70 to 100. As part of the Sustainability Strategy, a second group addressed the topic of avoidance of plastic waste by using compressed coffee balls instead of capsules. This idea will be trialled in a pilot project over the coming months.
“Leonardo DNA” at the Academy
550 employees have already taken part in the various programmes offered by the Leonardo Academy. This figure includes 50 out of a total of 90 hotel directors, regional managers, further specialist and leadership staff and young trainees.
The importance of the role played by the Leonardo Academy for the company was underlined by the fact that the Graduation Event was attended by the company’s founder David Fattal. Mr. Fattal has been present at every such celebration since the establishment of the Academy in 2013. “We find it very important that our talented people are able to develop their career here with us,” he said. “We are one of Europe’s fastest growing hotel groups. Insiders understand our corporate philosophy. They know how we work and what matters to us and they are also familiar with the vision we are pursuing. They already have the “Leonardo DNA”, so to speak, which they have internalised and made an integral part of their working life.”
At Leonardo Hotels, it goes without saying that employee satisfaction is a top priority and that this should also be enhanced via the multifarious career opportunities available at the company. “Every manager has been given the task of identifying at least 2 or 3 talented individuals within his or her team and of offering these persons additional encouragement,” stated Anke Maas, Director of Human Resources Central Europe. This is the only way in which managers are able to progress their own careers, because up-and-coming talent is then in place to secure the leadership of the team.”
Awards for outstanding performances
The importance of developing up-and-coming talent is reflected in the annual “Leadership Award”, which is conferred on one young employee. “Gaining an understanding of the correlation between staff management and the achievement of corporate goals is something which is of particular significance to us,” stated Yoram Biton, Managing Director Leonardo Hotels Central Europe. “Every manager needs to grasp that only contented staff will commit themselves fully to the company.” This topic was very much at the heart of the presentation of the 4 “Leadership Award” finalists. Following a live vote amongst the 200 graduates and managers present, the winner was declared to be Muammer Ziya Arier (Assistant Operations Manager, Leonardo Hotel Hamburg Altona), who has been developing his career pathway at Leonardo Hotels over the past 6 years. His prize was a voucher for the Summer School at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Samuel Koch delivers the keynote address
The appearance of Samuel Koch as keynote speaker was a further highlight of the event. Mr. Koch took resilience as the topic of his address, during which he also quoted an episode from his book “Schwerelos” (“Weightless”). “Imagine you have been planning a journey to Italy and that you are really looking forward to it. But there is a flight change and you land in the Netherlands. Now you have a choice. Are you going to spend the rest of the trip regretting that you didn’t land in Italy? Then it is unlikely that you will every get to enjoy the special and enchanting beauty of the Netherlands.”
Samuel Koch is a 37-year old actor and author who has been paralysed from the neck down since an accident on a TV show in 2010. Despite this, he has not lost his joie de vivre, humour or bustling nature. He believes that rethinking things is the key. He does not look at what he cannot do. He only considers what is possible and has decided that he will remain upbeat and cheerful and shape his future actively.
He has a precise association with Leonardo Hotels in this regard. We are also a place with people who make things possible. Of course, we also offer a particularly good night’s sleep after long evenings spent celebrating life.
Main topic focuses: a shift in perspective, inclusion and sustainability
The annual Leonardo Graduation Event brings top management and young aspiring professionals together. A main thematic focus is set out every year, the intention being that this will serve as a source of support and inspiration for participants over the coming 12 months. The main thing which all attendees took away with them this year was that a shift in perspective leads to mental strength and that the issues of inclusion and sustainability should therefore form an action framework and objectives for the following months.
The next Academy cohort began in January 2024, and a further is scheduled for the start of 2025. Once again, any employee from the 10 countries making up the Unit Central Europe can apply to take part in the programmes.